The Tijaniyah movement was reared out of controversy. From its very inception (c.1782), its members brought challenge to the accepted notions of monastic order. Abu al-`Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Mukhtar al-Tijani (born AH I150/1737 CE) at Ayn Madi, southern Algeria), the founder of the brotherhood, proclaimed himself the “pole of poles” (qutb alaqtab) and